Bible Edition Review: Baronius Press Pocket Douay-Rheims

Within the past few weeks, Baronius Press has
released its fourth impression of their Pocket Douay-Rheims. For some time it had been unavailable, but
fortunately that is now not the case. As
you would come to expect with any publication from Baronius Press, the overall
presentation is of the highest quality. The
gold gilt edged pages and the classical-looking page layout (with only minimal
ghosting) make this pocket Bible a true pleasure to read and carry around. In many ways, this is the nicest pocket Catholic Bible
that I have seen, probably along with the Cambridge Pocket RSV New Testament
and Psalms.

As you will
notice below, where I list the features found in Bible, this pocket Bible is
packed with stuff. The maps and
engravings are printed on a very thin glossy paper, which add a nice touch,
without hindering page turning. I have pointed out in the past some Bibles
that include glossy inserts and how they have a tendency to kind of
get-in-the-way. Those who regularly attend
the Extraordinary Form of the Mass will appreciate the inclusion of the Mass
readings for Sundays, Holy Days, and Saints Days. The Table of References is nice two page
addition which can be of help for doing apologetics or study. Also included are
three Papal encyclicals, although I wouldn’t have mind having Dei Verbum
included. As it has been noted by others
elsewhere on this blog, if they are going to include Divino Afflante Spiritu, why
not include Dei Verbum as well.

Again, this is a really wonderful pocket Bible. My only, although slight, disappointment is
that the cover is made of a rather stiff bonded leather. While this may allow for greater protection
of the pages from being bent, it does hinder the Bible’s ability to be opened
flat on a table. This may change in time
with regular use, but at this point I am unsure. Perhaps someone else who owns
this edition will be able to chime in.

Everything else about this volume has the feel and
look of a well-crafted Bible that will last a lifetime. As their website state, Baronius Press
strives “to raise the quality of traditional Catholic books in order to make
them more appealing to a wider audience. In an age of mass production and cost cutting
overriding aesthetic beauty, Baronius Press is re-typesetting (rather than
producing facsimiles) classic Catholic books, to obtain clear text which is
easy to read. These are then published in high quality bindings that are
beautiful and durable.” I hope they
continue to produce high quality Bibles, and I would love to see them produce a
pocket edition of their Knox Bible in the future.

I really wish someone would reprint the original 1609 Douay Rheims....or at least reprint the full notes.

The Challoner edition removed about 80% of the notes, and even though the original notes tended to be highly polemical, they were very useful and insightful. What we have today is a severely truncated version of what once was.

Dei Verbum? Well, yes, but the encyclicals are not so easily available in print form so they are very welcome. Let's hope Baronius also brings out a pocket Knox. I'd also like to see the full size Knox in a flexible cover version. Shame the pocket D-R is not available in the UK where the publisher is based.

I would like to see the Knox is an audio Bible and e-book format. I've read enough of it by now to know that the Knox will never be my primary Bible (gotta stick with the RSV CE for that for now) but I do like having it as a secondary option to look up a particular passage when I'm confused about a passage and want to look at multiple renderings, which happens often enough that it justifies my continuing to buy new translations as I find them.

Some of the extreme polemical annotations in the original Douay-Rheims (about race, women, Jews, Protestants, governments without kings, etc.) are quite surprising to read now for those who are not familiar with the style of 16th century polemics; for this reason, I think that the original Douay-Rheims tends to be read mostly by scholars.

I have been surprised, though, that a number of Protestants have expressed interest the 1560 Geneva Bible which also contains some highly polemical annotations. (The Geneva's anti-monarchy notes bothered King James so much that at the Hampton Court Conference, James explicitly required that the translation he was sponsoring have "No marginal notes at all to be affixed, but only for the explanation of the Hebrew or Greek words, which cannot, without some circumlocution, so briefly and fitly be expressed in the text.")

The polemical tone of the original Douay Rhiems was fairly typical of the time, and are no worse than what can be found in places like Luther's works or Calvin's Institutes. Well...actually....the Douay Rheims is pretty mild compared to Luther. I've never seen any Protestants censor either Luther or Calvin due to the polemical nature of their works, although they do address the negative tone sometimes in marginal notes or the introduction.

Hey Tim!I have you seen and/or reviewed the full size BP Douay? I have a copy and really love it for all the reasons stated regarding the compact version. But my full-size copy has some inconsistency in print darkness... some pages are dark and others are noticably more faded. I wanted to see if this was a BP issue or just my copy?Dave

@Timothy: Thank you very much for your reply. Hmm, how short is it? Will it be like the one in The CTS New Catholic Bible (Standard Edition)? Like for example its introduction for The Gospel of John? Thanks! God bless.

Blog Patron

This blog is intended to be a place where Catholics and other Christians can discuss Catholic Bible editions, study tools, and other issues concerning the Catholic faith.
You can contact me via email at: mccorm45 (at) yahoo (dot) com

Vulgate-Douay-Knox

Catholic Bible Online

NABRE

NRSV

Message 4 Next Week

Prayer of Thomas Merton

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always, though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.